


The Tale of The Lavabender

by W01FS0NG



Series: The Tale of the Lavabender [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ba Sing Se, Gen, Lavabender, Mention of Death, meets Katara and Toph, mention of Iroh’s son, mention of Jet, mention of descrimination, ofc is a war refugee, she is friends with Iroh and Zuko, the Dai Lee are creepy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W01FS0NG/pseuds/W01FS0NG
Summary: "War is a strange thing, isn't it?""What do you mean?""If there wasn't a war, then your son would probably be alive, and I wouldn't have been born."
Series: The Tale of the Lavabender [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787455
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	The Tale of The Lavabender

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else really like the fact that this show is available on Netflix?

Heiwa Natu walked through the streets of Ba Sing Se. Her journey there was long and arduous. She had a secret. A power that no one thought was possible. Heiwa thought that she could hide in this city, full of other refugees. She came here with two others, actually meeting them getting ferry ride tickets. One was a very nice old man called Mushi. He had a nephew named Lee.

Her mind wandered as she explored the upper-class part of the city. She managed to buy some fancy-ish clothes and sneak her way into the inner walls. All she wanted was to have a look around. As she walked near this bridge, she saw three high-class girls taunt this water tribe girl and this blind girl.

“Wow great makeup,” the one with the umbrella said. 

“Thanks,” said the blind girl.

“For a clown,” the umbrella girl followed up. The other two high-class girls laughed along with her. 

“Let’s just keep walking,” the water tribe girl coaxed the blind one.

“I think she looks cute, like the time we put a sweater on your pet poodle monkey,” another girl remarked. They laughed this annoying laugh.

“Good one, star,” one of them said.

The water tribe girl tried to get the blind one to leave, but she just laughed, turned around, and said, “No, that was a good one. Like your pet poodle monkey. Ha! You know what else is a good one?” She stomped the bridge and a hole appeared beneath the three upper-class girls. They fell through with small girlish screams.

“Now that was funny,” said the water tribe girl as she waterbended them downstream.

Heiwa’s laughter caused the two remaining girls on the bridge to look at her. Noticing this, she walked towards them. “You sure showed them.” She then walked up to the blind girl. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re really pretty.” Heiwa looked to the waterbender and said, “You too.”

“Thanks, um,” the waterbender asked for her name.

“Heiwa. And you are?”

“I’m Katara. This is Toph.”

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Heiwa waved goodbye to them as she kept walking on the bridge, heading back to the apartment she shared with the old man and his nephew.

__________

When she got back to their neighborhood, she found that the sun was close to setting. As she walked home she saw a man on a hill burning a candle. Curious, she walked up to find a singing Iroh. The deepest sadness in his voice as he sang, “Leaves from the vine. Falling so slow. Like fragile tiny shells drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy come marching home. Brave soldier boy comes marching home.”

Wordlessly, she walked right next to him, knelt down and started praying. Not a word passed between them. Heiwa knew that he was probably mourning the death of his son. The teen took this time to mourn her parents. It would have been seven months ago today. 

Her family grew up in a Fire nation colony on the West coast of the Earth kingdom. There was this river that separated two different sides. Her father was an Earthbender while her mother was a Firebender. In fact, she was the niece of the Fire Nation government leader there. Most people on both sides of the town hated her parents and her existence. There was one boy though. A non-bender who hung out with her almost all the time. The two were practically inseparable.

One fateful night, the townspeople decided to take fate away from them. Both Fire Nation colonists and Earth Kingdom locals decided to destroy their home. Wanting to protect their child, they told her to run. At fifteen years old, she watched them kill her parents. As the house was being burned to ash and buried beneath the ground, she had to watch her best friend slowly die in her arms as he rushed in to try and save her. When the mob went after Heiwa, she thought she could try to defend herself by earthbending away. She did that, and so much more. That night was the first night that she ever bent lava. The mob called her a freak and an abomination. So she ran, far far away. All the way to Ba Sing Se. She turned sixteen on her journey.

“War is an interesting thing, isn’t it?” Heiwa asked Mushi as tears quietly streamed down her face. 

“What do you mean?” He asked, turning to her.

She stared right into the eyes of the boy in the painting. “If this war had never started, your son would still be alive, and I would not.”

“What do you mean?” The old man’s voice was gentle.

“If the Fire Nation had never established a colony on the west coast, I would never have been born. My mother was the niece of the head government official there, and my father was an Earth Kingdom civilian. Both were benders.”

He hummed. “I see.”

“Your nephew, Lee,” Heiwa brought up. “He’s Prince Zuko, isn’t he?” She received no answer. “It’s just… I’ve seen his face on posters there and since Lee has the exact same scar and shape of the face… I don’t know. You know what? Forget I said anything.” The secret lavabender got up and walked down the hill, finally heading home.

There was something creepy about Ba Sing Se. Meiwa can’t go a few minutes without getting the feeling that she’s being watched by someone. The bender hoped to the spirits that the rumors she heard about the Dai Lee weren’t true. But then again, the feeling of being watched had followed her to the upper ring. Oh well, whatever’s going on in this city, Heiwa isn’t sure if she would like to find out.

”But mom~,” a young child whines on the street. “I wanna see the new zoo.”

”And we will. How about tomorrow?” The mom suggested.

“ _New zoo huh? That could be fun to go to at some point_ ,” the lava bender thought.

__________

It was dark when Lee finally entered their room. “How was your date?” She asked him. This girl, one of the tea shop customers, really seemed to take a liking to him. Both Iroh and Meiwa encouraged him to go. He could have gone without gelling his hair though. 

“It was nice,” he said with a slight smile.

“That’s good,” she said, laying on her futon mat.

“How was your day?”

“It was nice,” she mirrored him. They stared at each other with this light feeling hanging about in the air. 

“That’s good.”

A long pause of silence passed between them. Lee can make any situation awkward, can’t he? Oh well. Sleep slowly crept up on her as she hoped Jet wouldn't harass them about being firebenders again. Meiwa found out a while ago but chose not to say anything. She liked having them around. They were so different from the firebenders she knew at home. Although who knows how long that can last once they find out that she can lavabend? Guess she’ll just have to wait and see. For now though, she’s content with how they are. Happy without knowing each other’s pasts.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed! As far as I'm aware, I'm making this a three or four part series which will probably come sometime soon. Let me know what you liked or didn't like because I am willing to make edits.
> 
> FYI, Heiwa in Japanese means peace


End file.
